Steve Lawless > Recent Status Updates

Was sceptical at first as the author was a Guardian journalist but this is actually a really good in depth history of Palestine. There is a massive amount of detail. Hence it is also a depressing read. The injustice is unending and the suffering horrendous.

Deftly illustrates the way that racism is fundamental to colonialism.

Provides valuable insight to the background ideas that Marx and Engles were rising above. In particular the agency of the working class, the state of development of the working class in France Germany and England, The development of understanding the role of the state not as an impartial instrument, and what other philosophers that describe themselves as communists and socialists thought at the time.

"Hold on a minute" I said "are you saying it's ok for him to go around with Semtex but not ok for me to read Jane Eyre in public?"

A great book about a superlative musician. When someone is a musical hero to you you want to know far more, about the man, about his history, how much he practiced and what his mates thought of him. This book, painstakingly researched, gives you all of this and more. The level if detail is truly impressive. But for MB fans it still reads like a racy novel. And it turns out that Michael was a really nice, genuine guy

It's painful reading Mann's pandering to conservative republicans. He criticises his allies for splitting the climate movement but vigorously does so himself. Basically if you don't agree with his viewpoint you are on the wrong side. Sadly his viewpoint is one of neoliberal economic growth and incompatible with tackling the climate crisis in any serious way.

Visionary

A book that everyone concerned about the environment should read.

Very well written and tightly argued.

A revelation. This book outlines the dynamics of our war against nature. It explains how factory farming has led to the destruction of many of our birds and much of our wildlife. Importantly it also describes how we can reverse this.

We're fatally complacent leading toxic lifestyles.

He rails against China Russia and Syria for the human rights abuses and claims that they are in a better position to monopolize data which makes them a threat to us. However he fails to mention the human rights abuses of the Western capitalist States. There is little if any mention of the invasions of the Middle East. There is also constant use of the term we. Unfortunately this is not defined.

I've got a number of issues with this book. There are minor issues such as an implication that universal income was his idea. But there are a number of broader issues that concern me. The main concern he has is with promoting human rights. He claims that this is under threat from both the alt-right, neo facism, and from the end of history left although he provides few if any sources for these misguided thinkers.

Found the first couple of chapters a little bit rambling and certainly weren't telling me very much that I didn't already know. Chapter 6 is a really interesting chapter on the the neo-nazi and alt right in the US. Now into his stuff on artificial intelligence and the role of machines. Philosophically quite interesting and he is well read on philosophy.

Much is now very dated. Worth dipping into for historical knowledge but his more recent books are more imporant, and excellent. The world would be a poorer place without journalists this good and unfortunately there are very few of them.

Enjoying this immensely. Some fascinating history about anti-poverty experiments. Thought it would be dry but not at all.

This one is slowly paced to start with and doesn't really warm up until about the middle. Most of the action is in the last quarter. Bingham writes some great characters. Not just Fiona who develops well in this book, but Burnett was a new and very sympathetic character. This book had more of that Bingham humour which is so good. Part of the narative I found not credible. Especially the actions of the monks.

Keynsianism versus Neo-Liberalism. It is not a radical book but rather an arguement for intervention and steering of capitalism within a mixed economy. Interesting at the moment as neoliberalism seems to be such a dominant ideology despite the suffering and injustices it causes. Thankfully there is a resurgent interest in Keynsianism as evidenced by the popularity of Corbyn and the resistance to austerity in the UK.

Loving it so far. Use of language is exquisite. The dialogue is supremely clever.